GMS Notes No.43. January 2012

Jim

Jan 14|13:30

When I went looking for this month’s flower I found a good half dozen in the garden. Quite a marked change from last year and a reflection of the mild winter. Apart from Alexanders and lawn daisies they were annuals which germinated in the autumn.

Since they are such short lived plants they flower whenever it is warm enough.

Wildflower of the Month

COMMON FUMITORY

A common weed of cultivated ground, the common fumitory (Fumaria officinalis) is a pretty little plant and quite easy to remove so I am not that diligent in removing it. It is a weak scrambling annual and will use the thin branches of any low growing plant to lift its leaves and flowers towards the sun. The plant I photographed is using the dead fronds of my asparagus plants.

Traditionally fumitory has been used as a treatment for eczema either taken orally as a tea or as a compress. It is quite toxic, and is unlikely to be as effective as treatments prescribed by your doctor. As always with herbal remedies most of the good ones have already been used and improved by the pharmaceutical companies.

Carols on the Green

Those of you who were at the inaugural Carols on the Green event just before Christmas must surely agree with me that it was a resounding success. More than eighty people gathered round the tree and sang lustily to the accompaniment of St. Martin’s Church’s latest acquisition, a music machine!

After singing our hearts out we all trooped in to the Village Hall where we were entertained by the St. Martin’s Hand Bell Ringers while enjoying warm mulled wine and mince pies.

Even the weather was on our side and we all agreed that we should do the same next year.

Thanks to the Parish Council for initiating the event, Brian for the tree, David and Co. for putting it up, Peter for providing the music and to Diana and Patricia for organising the refreshments.

The Fowlers of Great Mongeham

Towards the end of last year there was a knock on Sajjad’s door and he was presented with the deeds to his house. He has passed them on to the Great Mongeham Society archive. The deeds add a little more information to the story of Henry Fowler, a Devonshire man who joined the Kent Constabulary and came to the village in 1878. He later became a farmer. He built the two terraces opposite the Leather Bottle known as Fairfield Cottages and Fair View cottages (where Sajjid lives). Perhaps the Henry Fowler story will provide an interesting story for the next few issues of the Notes

January Meeting

Our first meeting of the new year will be entitled ‘Old Ramsgate , a Trip Down Memory Lane’. Ralph Hoult, who has lived in Ramsgate all his life, will be using photographs he has taken through the years to illustrate his talk. He learned photography. in the RAF. On returning home in 1974 he opened a photography shop in Ramsgate which he had for 30 years.

Ralph has had a full and active life, running his own Amateur Theatre Group, the Starlite Entertainers Productions for over 30 years. He has done much charity work and has been involved with Scouts and Sea Cadets and is now a Town Councillor. With that background I am sure he will have a fascinating tale to tell.